Compliance
by greatgirl22302
Summary: Roxas is a normal kid. His mother's dead, his dad's a self-loathing jerk, but he's over all normal. That is; until he learns he's a lot more involved with angels and demons than he is with normal people. AU, Akuroku, Sori, Cleon, Clerith(short), many many others. Rated M for possible sexual situations and gore. Contains many ff characters.
1. Beginning

_A blanket of white surrounded two people. No scenery could be seen from anywhere around. The red haired man stood facing someone not much younger, with black hair. _

"_So….God isn't one person?" The black haired man spoke._

"_Well, he is, but it's a little more complicated." The red haired man played with the thin ponytail at the nape of his neck; lost in thought._

"_Complicated how?"_

"_The truth is, God changes."_

"_Changes?" The raven haired, blue eyed man looked at the red head in curiosity._

"_Holding the world together takes a lot out of you, and in some cases, can corrupt you. So when someone with potential, like you, makes their way up to heaven; God changes."_

"_You mean…you replace him?"_

"_Don't make it sound so bad. He knows exactly what he's getting into when he takes the position, and usually by the time we're ready to replace him he's happy to leave. There are some cases where he doesn't, but by that time we angels can remove him forcibly."_

_Disregarding the initial shock of being face to face with an angel, he continued the conversation. There were some things he needed to know. "The angels are stronger than God?"_

"_Not at first, but the longer you're in the position, the more it takes out of you."_

"_So God gets weaker?"_

"_Yeah…It sucks when we get one good enough to keep, but it's pretty helpful for those that aren't."_

"_You mean…a bad God? That can happen?"_

"_I told you; the weight of the world can corrupt a person. Even a person good enough to be God. It usually takes a long time for someone to get weaker. It has been different recently, but, well, you'll see."_

"_Different how?"_

"_I can't tell you right now. I've got to go; places to be, angel work to be done, the usual." The redhead turned away from him._

"_Do I even get your name?"_

_ The man vanished, but his voice, saying "Reno" rang across the white field before fading away._

_ The black haired man sighed. "What am I supposed to do now?"_

_ "Become God." A voice familiar to him spoke from behind him, but when he turned there was no one._

_ "Angeal?"_

_ A firm hand gripped his shoulder, and he immediately attempted to turn, but the hand held him in place. "Don't. Not yet. I'll see you soon enough." Once convinced he wasn't going to move, the hands grip relaxed. "Good luck, Zack."_

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A spiky head comparable only to a Chocobo gripped the hand of a brown haired girl; whose hand, though still warm, was limp. Two newborns cries reached his ears, but he didn't move to comfort them. The doctors would handle them, and this would be the final time he could hold _her. _

Time was a strange thing. It felt almost like hours had passed since he had last moved, since he had last seen life on her face, but it hadn't been more then minutes. How could this happen? Everything was fine. The pregnancy was normal.

The door opened and the doctor who delivered the children walked in. "Mr. Strife…" Cloud's eyes narrowed. He knew who caused this. The doctor that told them there was only one child. The doctor who didn't figure out there were two infants until it was too late. "We need to move her." Angry blue eyes turned to face the rotund doctor, who suddenly found himself pushed into the wall next to the bed; with strong arms locked onto the front of his lab coat.

But the help button next to the bed was close enough to push. The doctor reached for the button, but Cloud quickly grabbed the arm reaching for it and twisted it until a sickening snap was heard. The yell that followed was muffled, but it was still enough for a passing nurse to hear. The nurse opened the door quickly. "Dr. Hollander-"She cut herself off with a gasp-like scream of shock. "Help!" The nurse stumbled back into the hall.

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Roxas held back a sigh as Marlene handed him the burnt toast. "Thanks, Marlene." The six year old smiled brightly at him and set at making some for the rest of the household. Marlene was a sweet girl and apparently the spitting image of his mother.

"Roxas?" He looked at Marlene once more. "Will you take me to school today?" He blinked in surprise. Normally his brother, Sora, would take the girl to school.

"What about Sora?"

"He isn't feeling good."

"Oh…Yeah, I'll take you." He took a bite out of the toast. It was rare for Sora to get sick, and likely it meant that their father, Cloud, wouldn't be going to work either. Not that his work counted as a real job. It was a wonder he was able to pay for the three of them; much less pay for the newly adopted little girl. Marlene's father had vanished, without a trace, and someone had to take care of her. Cloud was a friend of her father's and ended up with the little girl.

While it was nice to have the girl around; he couldn't help but feel a little jealous about it. It was obvious that Cloud favored her and Sora. Which was fine, but he took after Cloud…And Cloud hated himself.

When the girl had finished her own breakfast and left two plates set out for Cloud and Sora; they set out. Roxas walked at his usual steady pace, but Marlene skipped across the side walk ahead of him. He wondered if Sora usually kept up with her. "Hey, Marlene, be careful."

She turned to face him without stopping; locking her hands behind her back and smiling at him. "I am being careful!" She slowed a little. "But we're going to be late."

"Late? You're half an hour early."

"But it takes that long to water the flowers."

"Flowers?" Roxas gave her a questioning look, but the girl didn't elaborate. However, when they reached the schoolyard he saw what the girl meant. Yellow and white flowers sprawled across the field; surrounding the school building. He blinked in surprise. Those definitely weren't there when he attended her school. "When did these get here?"

Marlene immediately made her way to a watering can resting near the school building, expertly avoiding each of the small flowers. "I planted them last year." She started watering them carefully. "My dad bought the seeds for me." She grew quiet, and Roxas wondered if he'd upset her. As he tried to come up with what to say next, she spoke again. "…Do you think he's okay?"

Roxas bit his lip. "…I think he's doing his best to get back to you." He wasn't sure it was the right thing to say, or even if Marlene's father was alive.

Even so, the girls smile returned; though softer this time.

Eventually time ran short and Roxas decided he needed to get to his own school. "I'll pick you up when I get out." Marlene waved at him as he left, and Roxas left to the only danger he knew of: high school.

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Cloud closed the door to Sora's room quietly. He was asleep and no longer running a fever. He didn't want to leave him alone, but he needed to get to work. They didn't have a lot of money to spare, and having Marlene around had taken anything spare they had. But Marlene was a good kid and didn't ask for much. Barrett had raised her well.

Cloud went out to the driveway, where the only vehicle was a black motorcycle. Sora and Roxas didn't drive yet, and they probably wouldn't for a long time unless they wanted to share a car. Probably not a good car either. Putting on a set of goggles, Cloud set off to a building in the wrong side of town.

The building was an old skyscraper with boarded up windows. If not for the cars in front it would seem completely abandoned. The light of late morning made a faded sign reading _Shinra _just barely visible. Walking in without bothering to knock, Cloud came face to face with the buildings namesake; Rufus Shinra.

Rufus was a young man that had an air of maturity around him that didn't fit his age. While the outside of the building was horrible; the inside was quite the opposite. Besides the boarded up windows, the place was well kept and full of enough furniture to give the appearance of a large living room…Which is basically what it was.

The old Shinra building used to be the base of the company, but with its exponential growth the company had moved on to bigger and better places. Rufus, being the son of the company's President, had insisted the building be kept in their possession. Now the building served as the headquarters for Cloud's job, and despite how looked down upon they were, the building was legally in their possession.

"You're late." Rufus crossed his arms over a white suit, looking at Cloud expectantly. The two blonde men gave each other looks that insisted that they didn't like one another at all. This had been true since they'd first met; nearly a year after Aerith had died. Even so, Rufus hadn't kicked him out then, and he wasn't going to. Cloud was good at his job and Rufus knew it. "Run into trouble?"

"Something like that." Cloud pushed passed him into the long hallway behind him. He didn't know whether Rufus was standing guard or waiting for him to show, but he didn't want to talk to him. If he explained he had a sick teenager at home he'd probably just tease him.

The meeting room was full. While some people whispered quietly on the sidelines, the majority were situated around a chair-less table in the center of the room. He recognized all of them, but wasn't really acquainted with them. He wasn't there to make friends. A man with a scar across the bridge of his nose stood across from Cloud, deep in conversation with the group around him; including an older man with blonde hair and a girl with reddish brown eyes.

As he approached the man with the scar looked to him. "Trouble?"

Cloud sighed a little. "Sick kid." There wasn't really a point in hiding it from him. Leon, the leader of their little band, was pretty good at prying out information. Even from someone like Cloud. "So what's going on?"

"There was a sighting."

Cloud looked at him. "What kind of sighting?"

The older blonde man piped in. "What kinda sighting do you think?"

Cloud disregarded the man, but the red-brown eyed girl spoke. "Cid." The girls tone gave off a clear warning, but Cloud really wasn't sure what she was warning Cid off about. They got along well enough and, well, Cid was always like that. He didn't really care.

Cid crossed his arms stubbornly, chewing at what might have been gum. The girl looked ready to speak again, but Cloud had stopped listening and instead turned his attention to Leon. "A demon?"

Leon shook his head. "Worse."

Cloud frowned. "Worse than a demon?"

The girl with them spoke. "The devil's son."

Cloud raised an eyebrow in suspicion as he replied. "How do we know that it's the devil's son?"

The room went quiet.

After a long moment Leon spoke again. "Tifa."

The pause continued until the brown-red eyed girl broke it. "I've met him." The girl called Tifa sighed as if remembering something she particularly wanted to forget. "It's definitely him." The rest of the rooms' attention had been caught, and the majority of the people in the room had formed a circle around the four of them rather than the table. Cloud twitched in irritation. He didn't particularly like being crowded.

A teenage girl that obviously can't take visual clues broke the next silence. "How did you meet him? What happened?" The teenager was leaning over the shoulder of another black haired teen; a quieter one. Cloud did recognize the quiet one. She was a friend of Roxas and Sora; Xion. Tifa hesitated and it was clear she didn't want to talk about it.

Cloud looked at the people and sighed a little. "What does he look like?"

Tifa looked at him in surprise. Cloud crossed his arms and waited for her to go on, but he didn't miss the light smile she shot his way. "He's tall and has silver hair, with greenish blue eyes, and…"

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Sora woke to the sound of a motorcycle starting, but he didn't get up. He felt like he'd swallowed nails, but Cloud needed to work and he knew it. He covered his eyes with his arm; wishing the sun would stop shining. Sure he liked the sunshine normally, but right now it was preventing his sleep. He sighed softly, and it turned into a wide yawn; which turned into a coughing fit. When the coughing subsided he drained the water bottle at his bedside. He hated being sick. Leaning against his pillows; Sora allowed his eyes to droop. A faint rustling from nearby caught his attention.

His eyes opened as a shadow fell over him, piercing eyes locking on his.

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"Where did you last see him?" Cloud asked Tifa, who seemed to be fully recovered from her previous embarrassment.

"He was heading toward a neighborhood area. Maybe he moved in somewhere?"

Cloud scowled. It was unusual for a demon to try to settle in their town, and it was even more unusual for them to get anything more than an apartment. "What neighborhood?" He wanted to know what area to look out for. But when she told him, his scowl turned into a glare. "He's in…_My _neighborhood?

Cloud immediately shot a look at Leon, but Leon shook his head, reading the questioning look. "It didn't come to mind that you lived over there, but we'll send people to keep an eye on the area with you."

He gave a sharp nod. "And you're coming too."

Despite being a leader that had just been given orders, Leon did nothing but nod as Cloud flew down the hall and back outside.

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Roxas sat at the lunch table alone. Well, he wasn't really alone. Selphie and some friends of hers were a few chairs down, but he didn't really want to talk to them. Tidus and Wakka were okay, but they didn't have anything in common. They were both into sports. Roxas wasn't. He wasn't bad at them, or picked last in gym, but they weren't something he'd want to do for fun. Except maybe track…If their school had a track team.

"-xas. Roxas. Hello?" A hand was waved in front of his face, and he looked toward its owner. The bright eyed girl smiled at him. "Finally…All spaced out since Xion isn't here?" The wag of her eyebrows at the end of her sentence gave away the implication.

Roxas blinked and shook his head quickly. "Don't be weird, Selphie." It's true that he and Xion tended to hang out, but that was all. He didn't think she was into him, and that was just fine with him. She was a good friend, but that was all.

Selphie pouted. "Than what's up with you today? You could at least sit by us."

"This is my usual spot."

The yellow-clothed girl crossed her arms. "Well, yeah, but there's room next to us since Sora and Xion aren't here."

He suppressed a sigh, but knew it was useless to argue with her. She'd get him to move or they'd all move next to him. That's just the kind of thing she'd do, too. Sliding his tray, he moved into the seat next to Wakka.

After that the conversation continued, but he didn't pay attention, and the others didn't drag him into it. It wasn't like he was a complete loner. Selphie, Wakka, Tidus…they were all people he didn't mind, and he sat with them at lunch, but…They weren't the people he normally talked to at lunch. He talked to Xion and Sora, but there were another three people out on a field trip. Hayner, Pence, and Olette had all decided to go on the annual ski trip without telling him.

_The green eyed girl stood in front of him gaze downward; apologetically. "I'm really sorry Roxas…I thought you had signed up…"_

_ Roxas shook his head. "I didn't even get a permission slip."_

_ "They gave them all out before lunch Friday."_

_ "Friday?"_

_ "Mmhm."_

_ "Oh…I had a dentist appointment that day…"_

_ "I'm sorry…" She looked at him. "Do you want me to cancel?" She was thoughtful._

_ "No, it's fine. You guys go have fun. I don't think you could talk Hayner and Pence out of it anyway; they've been looking forward to it for awhile."_

_ "Maybe I could talk to a teacher and see if there's space open…"_

_ Roxas shook his head. "It's fine, Olette."_

Roxas did have a dentist appointment that day, but he really could have gone to the office and asked for one. The trip was supposed to last a week, and it would have been a lot of fun with all of them there, but…It cost a lot of money. And they didn't really have the money to spare.

His classes went by normally until his second last class of the day. He got a message. Peeking at it from his pocket; he opened the text.

_Go home._

_ -Xion_

He frowned. She hardly ever messaged him, and since she wasn't at school today; it was possible that she had gone to his house for something. For what? Was she sick too? Did she go to check on Sora? The teacher droned on, and Roxas found himself standing. "I need to go to the office." While this teacher would normally refuse a bathroom request; the office was a different matter, and he was soon leaving the school. Naturally; he'd never actually gone to the office.

The entire way to his house he couldn't help but come up with more crazy ideas, but what had really happened never even occurred to him.

In front of his house were his father, Xion, and two people he'd never seen before. Roxas frowned deeply. Now he knew something was wrong. He approached them. "What happened?"

Cloud looked at him with a frown that grew heavier when he saw him. Rather than answering him he looked to Xion. "I told you not to contact him."

"He was going to find out sooner or later."

Roxas looked at Xion. "Find out what? What's going on?"

Xion looked at him with worry on her face.

"Sora's been kidnapped."


	2. Hell's life saver?

A/N Thank you for the reviews and follows so far! I should have mentioned this before(a little late now…), but this story will contain Final Fantasy characters that were not in Kingdom Hearts, as well as The World Ends With You characters. This is to avoid using OC's. Also, this fic will probably be quite long; so bear with me. There is the potential for character death, but that doesn't necessarily mean that is the last that will be seen of that character. So if your favorite character dies, keep that in mind. On with the story!

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Sora's eyes opened slowly, but he couldn't bring himself to open them more than halfway. What was he doing again…? The itch in his throat ached to be considered, but he couldn't bring himself to cough. Or move at all. His eyes travelled around the room he was in, but his vision was blurry and he couldn't really make anything out, but he heard voices. "I want you to throw them off." The dark voice sounded far away, but Sora strained to turn his head toward it regardless. He needed to know what was going on. A lump of silvery-white that could have been either a hat or someone's hair stood at the other end of the room; facing someone that looked like they had a red lion's mane.

The lion mane shifted, and Sora assumed he crossed his arms. "You can't be serious." The new voice had a very different ring to it, lighter and sarcastic. "You were the one that let them see you."

The room's atmosphere grew tense and Sora could practically feel the irritation coming off the two. His guess was that they didn't get along. "Just make sure they don't know anything."

The red head turned around and began to walk away. "Yeah, yeah, I got it." If the lion mane hadn't come so close to him he would have missed the next line, grumbled under his breath. "Always cleaning up their messes, now they're sending me into a freaking hive of them…" Sora looked at the tall man as he passed by, but his vision was still too blurry to make out any features.

Suddenly, he could no longer keep his eyes open, and he drifted off once more.

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"By who? What happened?" Roxas looked at the group on his front lawn, and he didn't know whether to be angry or depressed…but angry seemed like the more productive option.

Cloud sighed heavily, and Roxas couldn't tell if it was irritation or resignation that brought it on. His father sighed a lot. "Go inside. I'll explain there."

Roxas was reluctant to go anywhere without answers, but Xion took hold of his arm and led him back into his home. Cloud and the two others that Roxas didn't know stayed on the lawn, speaking quietly. He debated whether to eavesdrop or speak to Xion, but the decision was made for him. "I'm sorry, Roxas."

He looked at her. "Who took him, Xion? Why are you here? Who are those other people?" He didn't mean to make it sound like he didn't want her around. He was glad to have someone around that would actually tell him what happened, but…he wanted to know how she was involved.

"The brown haired man is Leon. The black haired one is Tseng. They both work with your father."

Roxas frowned a little. "Work with him? Do they just have a gang of delivery guys?"

Xion looked confused. "Deliv…?" She paused. "Oh…I'll let Cloud explain that." Cloud. There it was. Roxas' frown grew. When Xion came to visit; 'Cloud' was always 'Mr. Strife'. Now; it was just Cloud.

As if on cue; Cloud made his appearance; walking in with the two others behind them. Roxas looked at them. None of them looked friendly enough to be in a delivery business. He should have known. But what was his real job? Drug dealer? Mafia? He could think of only a few that would get Sora into this much trouble. Cloud locked eyes with him and got ready to speak, but Roxas spoke before he got the chance. "You have a lot of explaining to do."

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Olette sat in the ski lodge; holding onto a cup of hot chocolate with the sleeves of her orange sweater. Despite the comforting warmth of the cup, without the sleeves to block the heat a little it would burn her hands. In front of her Hayner and Pence were arguing about what to eat. She sipped at the cup in her hands before speaking. "Guys, you're bothering the other guests."

Hayner sighed. "Fine…We can get anchovies on half the pizza."

Pence cheered, and Olette looked at them with a smile. "See? You can compromise." They grumbled a thanks at her that sounded more like a complaint, but Olette knew they were just being playful. She went to take a drink and frowned when she saw that the cup was now empty. She stood. "Hey guys, I'm going to go get more to drink."

Pence looked her way. "Ooh! Get me one!" The red-clad boy flashed her a bright smile, and she returned it.

"Alright. Stay out of trouble!" Olette made her way to the smell of food not far away and saw that the line was being held up by some blonde guy buying a ton of hot dogs. What was the number? Forty? Did they even have that many? Was he going to eat all that? No, he'd probably gotten them for his friends as well. Which would have been a good idea for her to do.

Since the line was going nowhere she decided she would have time to go ask her friends what they wanted, and she threw her empty cup into the trash along the way. The light above her was blocked. "Huh..?" She turned only to see the blonde carrying the entire load of hot dogs, creating a pile big enough that he couldn't see. "Oh, excuse me." She moved out of the way, but that didn't stop the trash can from tripping the poor guy and sending all the hot dogs sprawling across the hall. "Oh gosh, are you okay?" She knelt next to the blonde and saw that he had a tattoo across the left side of his face.

The blonde sat up and looked toward the trash can like he wanted to punch it before looking at the scattered hot dogs that had just been scattered. Someone stepped on one and the blonde groaned in dismay. Olette pondered whether she should repeat her question when the blonde faced her. "Why does this always happen to me…?" Olette blinked. "The cafeteria back home is always out of them, and now, when I can finally get some, I lose them."

Olette thought it was a little melodramatic for a hot dog, but she'd be embarrassed if she'd dropped them too. "If you want, I could help you carry them this time."

He smiled brightly at her. "Really?" She gave a nod, and he hopped to his feet; holding out a hand to her. "What's your name?"

She took his hand and stood. "Olette."

Once she was up he shook her hand lightly rather than releasing it. "Zell."

Once she helped Zell carry back a whole new load of hot dogs to a table where no one was sitting; she looked to the cheered up boy. "Where are your friends?"

"My friends?"

"Didn't you come here with someone?" She didn't want to mention that the reason she wanted to know was because of how many hot dogs there were.

"Oh. They're around. Thanks for helping me." He took a hot dog and lifted it to his lips before pausing and holding it out to her. "Do you want one?"

She shook her head. "I'm fine, thanks."

"There you are." She turned to see Hayner, who gave Zell a suspicious look before looking at her. "We were looking for you."

"Sorry, Hayner. I sort of caused Zell to drop all of his food."

Hayner, who seemed to just notice the large amounts of hot dogs gave him a strange look once more. "Selphie called."

Olette blinked in surprise. "You have service out here?" She pulled out her own phone, which had nothing.

"Barely, but yeah. She wants to know if we've heard from Roxas today."

Olette shook her head. "I haven't. My phone hasn't connected at all."

"She said he left school early and hasn't answered his phone since."

"The office didn't say why he left?"

Hayner shook his head. "He didn't stop by the office first. They didn't know he left."

Olette frowned. "That's not like him…"

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They had to be lying, but Roxas knew they weren't. None of the three men looked like the joking type, and Cloud looked dead serious. "Demons…Devil's son…hunters…" He took a deep breath. "Are you insane?"

Cloud sighed. "I know it's hard to be-"

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Cloud looked at him. "So demons exist, and you _hunt _them?" Roxas gripped the edge of the kitchen table they were centered around. "Did it ever occur to you that something like this might happen? Or that maybe your kids would want to know about it? How long have you been doing this? _Years? _And you have Marlene to look after too!" Roxas frowned as something occurred to him. "What about Marlene's dad? Was he a hunter?"

Cloud took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Yes, he was."

The frown Roxas wore deepened. "Does she know?"

"No."

"What if they go after her next? How did they find out where we live? Why are they targeting our family?" Roxas couldn't remember the last time he'd talked this much, but he couldn't help it. How was he supposed to react? He had a lot of questions, and he got the feeling that if he didn't ask them now; he never would.

Cloud didn't seem to be in a hurry to stop him either. It was almost like he expected this kind of treatment from him. "I don't think they'll go after the rest of us."

"Why wouldn't they?"

"We'll be watching for them now." Roxas noticed the slightly aggravated look he shot toward the two men with him. "And if anything, this was probably meant as a warning."

"What about Sora? Where would they take him?" The room was quiet, and no one would look him in the eye. Roxas could take a guess. They were demons, after all. He swept his gaze over everyone and his eyes landed on Xion. She was quiet. He couldn't tell how she was taking it. "Xion?" She looked at him with upset blue eyes, but they weren't clouded. There was no confusion in them. Roxas frowned a little. "Why were you at my house anyway?"

It occurred to Roxas that he could have just made her a suspect, but the three hunters in the room didn't react at all, except maybe glance in her direction. Xion seemed a little surprised at the question; as if she thought he already knew the answer, and when she spoke, he knew why. "I'm a hunter too, Roxas."

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When Sora opened his eyes again the blurriness was gone, but the pain in his throat was still there, and it was accompanied by a headache. Groaning, a little dazed, he tried to put his hand on his head in an attempt to soothe it, but he could barely move his arms at all. Frowning; he sat up the best he could and saw that chains locked his hands and feet close to a concrete floor.

"You're awake." Sora looked over and saw the man that abducted him. He couldn't be much older than himself, but the air around him was tense and gave off the vibe that he wasn't to be messed with. And yet after the first glance, he didn't really come off as scary. Intimidating for sure, but not terrifying. He was also the man that was talking to the lion mane before. The voice was the same, and the silver lump was now clearly recognizable as silver hair.

The man grabbed a wooden chair from nearby and brought it over; sitting near him. The sound of the chair scraping across the concrete floor broke the daze and he frowned. "Who are you? Where are we? What do you want?"

"Riku. Hell. And to save your life."


	3. Truth and Memory

A/N Sorry for the late update guys. I'll try to be quicker. I'll also try to make the next one longer.

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"Ri-He-wait, what?" Sora didn't know where to start with the questions he had swimming in his head. "Hell? What do you mean, _Hell?_" Did he mean he was going to _make _his life hell? Was that what this kidnapper was up to? Did he mean _the _Hell? Sure, he wasn't perfect, but that didn't mean he deserved to go to Hell, right? Wait…did that mean he was _dead? _Did this guy _kill _him?

"I mean you're currently in Hell. The world below, that kind of thing."

"The _actual _Hell?"

"Sora. Do I look like I'm joking?"

No, he definitely didn't look like he was joking. How did he know his name? Sora frowned deeply. So it definitely wasn't a random kidnapping. How long had he been planning this? "Who _are _you?"

"Ri-"

"I'm not asking for your name!"

Riku sighed. "I guess in your terms, I'd be a demon."

Sora blinked. "A…demon." He was tempted to ask if this guy was joking, but they'd already covered that he wasn't. Which left two possibilities: One; this guy was insane enough to believe he was a demon and that they were in Hell. Which was plausible, since anyone that would kidnap him and chain him to the ground was probably insane. Or, two…he was an _actual _demon and he really was in Hell.

He felt like he was going to faint. He'd never fainted in his life, but his mind could only take so much. "I don't understand…why? Why me?"

Riku looked genuinely surprised at the question, and Sora felt a little smug at having a reaction that wasn't so…stoic. That, however; was quickly replaced by the previous confusion that went along with the other questions. Despite the shock, Riku didn't take long to respond. "You don't know?"

"How would I? You just pop into my room and ki-" Sora cut himself off with a coughing fit. Maybe it wasn't a good idea to talk so much with a sore throat. Riku watched him before standing and walking away. "Hey, where ar-" His voice broke and he mentally cursed, blaming the sickness for his kidnapping in the first place.

Riku came back with a glass of water, which he held out to him. Sora looked at the glass suspiciously, and Riku sighed. "If I was going to kill you, I would have done it by now."

Sora wanted to point out that he could be a serial killer that liked to confuse and toy with his victims, but since the itching at the back of his throat was becoming ridiculous; he cautiously took the glass-which wasn't easy with the chains-and drank its contents. If there was poison in it; he didn't taste it. Riku sat down in the chair once more. Sora, thirst now satisfied, looked at him again. "So what is it that you want? Dragging me off and chaining me up is hardly a way to get on someone's good side."

"If I hadn't you would have run off as soon as you woke up." Sora quieted, and Riku continued with a smirk that scared him a little. "And there are quite a few people that would take off with you if I hadn't."

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

"Everyone here knows who you are. It took us awhile to figure out it was you, but now that we do…." Sora looked at him in confusion. He continued with a sigh. "You really have no clue what's going on, do you?"

Sora shook his head. "If I did; I wouldn't be asking."

Riku gave him a warning look before quieting, as if trying to find a place to start. "I guess I'll start at the basics." He crossed his arms. "You're God's son."

Sora blinked. "O-kay…A lot of people think my dad's pretty cool, but he's definitely not a God."

"Not _a _God; _the _God. The man you live with isn't your father."

Sora shook his head again. "That's ridiculous. Of course he is. I have a twin that looks just like him."

"Your twin is a half-brother."

"That's impossible."

"Normally, yes, but God made an exception."

Sora looked at him with clear disbelief in his eyes. He stayed quiet as he mulled it over, but eventually spoke to Riku again. "Say I am 'God's son'. What does that have to do with you?"

"I'm a demon. Do you really have to ask?"

"You brought me here just to kill me?"

"Of course not." Sora's eyebrow's furrowed in confusion, and Riku stood. "Do you have any idea how counterproductive that would be?"

"Um…no?"

"I brought you here because it's out of their reach. You're lucky I came to you before they did."

"They?"

"The angels."

"…The angels. So I'm God's son. Angels and demons exist, and you kidnapped me and brought me to Hell. And on top of that, I'm supposed to be _grateful_? Why would I b-"

"They want to kill you."

Sora locked eyes with him. "What?"

"You're God's son, yes. But if you aren't dead, you aren't of much use to them."

"What do you mean?"

"When you die you'll be a lot more powerful than you are now. You'd probably be in line for the next God, and I'm not going to let that happen."

"_Next _God?"

"It's complicated." He fished in his pocket before kneeling beside him. "I'm going to take the chains off, but keep in mind that running is probably going to bring you pain."

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_ "So what do we do now?" Cloud didn't answer him. Roxas frowned. "Hello? What do we do? How do we get him back?"_

_ "It's Hell Roxas. We don't have a way in, and we definitely don't have a way back out." He didn't even look at him. Apparently the floor was more interesting. _

_ "I thought you said you were a hunter!"_

_ "We hunt demons that are already here. Not one's we can't reach."_

_ "There has to be some way."_

_ "There isn't, Roxas."_

_ He finally looked at him, and Roxas saw what he was afraid to see. He'd already given up. Roxas narrowed his eyes at him. "I'm going to pick up Marlene."_

Roxas was nearing the little girl's school and found that the long walk had cleared his head a little. Sure, he was still pissed…but being angry wasn't going to get Sora back. A voice nagged at the back of his head; whispering that maybe his father was right, but Roxas wasn't going to have it. Cloud had given up too easily, and he wasn't going to join that pity party. If he didn't find a way to get him back; no one would.

He reached the school just as the final bell rang and the kids came stampeding out. He found himself feeling slightly irritated that most of them disregarded Marlene's flowers as they left, but he didn't speak to them, and neither did Marlene when she came out of the building.

She walked right up to him. "What's wrong?"

Roxas blinked. Who knew six year olds could be intuitive? "Well…Dad will explain when we get back."

"Did something happen?"

"Yeah."

"Something big?"

"I'd say so, yeah."

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After Roxas left Cloud spent minimal time with the few hunters in his house before Leon suggested that they patrol the neighborhood; leaving him alone in the now empty house.

Cloud leaned his head against the wall. He didn't want to think that Sora was a goner. He didn't want to believe that he was likely dead, but…at the same time; it was better to think that. It was better to think that his son was with his mother; not in Hell being tortured. It was better to think he was long gone than to pray for his return only to get his hopes trampled.

After Aerith's death he'd spent so much time asking to be taken instead, but the world hated him. He'd always thought she'd deserved better, and soon enough she was taken; someone too good for the world he lived in. But she'd left behind his children. And while there was a brief period where he thought perhaps the blame was theirs; he knew it wasn't. He blamed the doctor for a long time, but he knew it wasn't their fault either. He was the one that agreed to have a kid, and because of that; he lost her.

And now…He'd lost the memoir of her…Their creation; which reminded him of her so much; was taken right under his nose. But what was he supposed to do? How was he supposed to get him back? Or was he too good for this world too?

He banged his fist against the wall, and the vibrations reverberated across his forehead. "What am I supposed to do, Aerith?"

There was no answer, and the cold silence that greeted him seemed to last an eternity. Eventually he mustered the energy to move and made his way across the kitchen to the living room. Despite the sun still being up; the house felt chilly and the air restless; as if the house itself was mourning. He sighed as his eyes swept over the room toward the only picture of her he had up. Normally he would avoid it. Normally he wouldn't go near the picture that brought back all of the happy memories he tried so hard to lock away. But now he felt drawn to it, and it wasn't long until he found himself standing in front of it.

She was smiling at him when he took the picture. Her bright green eyes looking lovingly at the camera as she held her hand out to him.

_ "We're going to be late!" She chided him, but he knew they had plenty of time before the church bell rang._

_ "Just one picture." She laughed and reached for him, but he managed to snap the picture before she dragged him inside. He knew he'd frame it. The first photo of her since they'd gotten together._

Cloud swallowed audibly. Her hair was in its usual braid, but the white church behind her seemed to form a halo around her. With the exception of the few church-goers heading inside; she was the sole focus of the camera. He swore he'd never forget her beauty-inside and out-but each and every time he found himself struck by her angel like appearance.

He stared. He stared and felt the rush off loss hit him like a train. He missed her. He wanted her with him. He wanted her with his family. He wanted to be with her. But he still had people to take care of, and Aerith wouldn't want him to leave them alone.

And yet Sora was alone. He'd let him slip through his fingers, and there was no guarantee that he'd see him again.

Aerith, however, wouldn't give up on her child. He knew it. He knew how wonderful of a mother she would have been, and she would have been out there searching for him even if the odds were stacked against them.

He couldn't give up on him. He had to get Sora back. For her sake, and his own. The only question was _how?_

And then, as the door opened and Marlene and Roxas returned; he spotted it. The person standing at the church entrance in the far corner of the picture before him. The one person that might be able to help them.


End file.
